Higher order concepts, composed of lower order concepts, resonate in such a way that this resonance is greater than the sum of the resonances of these lower order concepts.
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Phenomenon explained : "Wholes are often more than the sum of the parts" A higher order concept is a concept that is expressed in other phenomena but somehow transcends them. An example is music: it is expressed by means of sounds but is somehow more than just the sounds, it cannot be reduced to them. One of the key problems of philosophy is to understand how higher and lower order phenomena relate to each other. How does music relate to sound, consciousness relate to neurons firing in a brain, or love relate to hormones? In what sense, if any, is the higher order phenomenon more than just the sum of the lower order phenomena of which it is composed? |
A higher order concept is a concept that is expressed in other phenomena but somehow transcends them. An example is music: it is expressed by means of sounds but is somehow more than just the sounds, and cannot be reduced to them.
The QO explanation for this is twofold. Firstly, any composite phenomenon distributes its energies over all the degrees of freedom availiable to it, resulting in configurations which are not achievable as a sum total of stable configurations of each part of the whole. It has another pattern of resonance. The whole is more than the sum of the parts, and therefore cannot be understood solely in terms of the parts. Music is more than the sounds which go to make it. Secondly, the higher order phenomenon can often, equally well be represented on some other substrate and retain its character. A thought can reside in your brain, or be articulated in words on paper, and still be the same thought. A defect in the lower order phenomenon may hinder the higher order phenomenon from being expressed, or may deform it, but that is not the same thing as saying that these phenomena coincide. We are not our brains, music is not just sounds, love is not just chemistry. And, above all, God, if He exists, is more than just an initial quantum out of which all else emanated and in which all that so emanated is present.
It would be wrong to regard the relation of the higher to the lower order primarily as a problem. The development of ever higher orders of phenomena is what the universe is all about. More, and more profound resonance, perhaps beyond our ability to comprehend, but nevertheless within our capacity to enjoy the benefits - that is what gives the development of concepts a direction. The incorporation of evil in the good, to make a more profound good, is an example of where this may lead.
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Credibility: This explanation is derived directly from observed quantum mechanical behaviour, and therefore has an absolute Occam score of 0000. It is therefore foundationally credible. |